- Title: SOMALIA: Lull in fighting a day after insurgents killed nine in Mogadishu
- Date: 28th May 2009
- Summary: BLOODSTAINS ON WALL
- Embargoed: 12th June 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Somalia
- City:
- Country: Somalia
- Topics:
- Reuters ID: LVA9DQNADQT7I0I6IL3YD2CALSY4
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: A relative calm in Mogadishu on Wednesday (May 27) allowed residents to leave their homes a day after Somali insurgents fired mortar shells at the presidential palace, killing nine people and wounding 10.
Several people gathered at the scene of the attack, where personal belongings remained scattered on the ground.
"Yesterday we saw bloodshed, we saw dead and wounded people especially near our house, where the mortar hit. Another mortar hit near a house, a former home of the national theatre, killing and wounding government troops who were at the scene," Hamdi Hassan Sheikh told Reuters.
More than 60 people have died since May 22, when the government attacked insurgent strongholds in the capital.
The latest killings happened as thousands of people fled the capital's Madina district after government forces and opposition troops started to flow into the area.
A surge in violence in May has killed nearly 200 people in the capital.
The international community fears the Horn of Africa nation, which has been mired in civil war for 18 years, could become a base for al Qaeda-linked militants. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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